Editing Saint Rosalia

{{Short description|Patron saint of Palermo, Italy}}
{{Other uses|Santa Rosalía (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox saint
| honorific_prefix = [[Saint]]
| name = Rosalia
| birth_date = {{Birth date text|1130}}
| death_date ={{Death year and age|1166|1130}}
| venerated_in = [[Catholic Church]]
| feast_day = {{ubl|14 July (feast proper)|4 September (pilgrimage on Mount Pellegrino)}}
| image = Anthonis van Dyck 084.jpg
| imagesize =
| caption = ''[[The Coronation of Saint Rosalia]]'' by [[van Dyck]]
| birth_place = [[Palermo]], [[Kingdom of Sicily]]
| death_place = [[Mount Pellegrino]], Kingdom of Sicily
| titles = Virgin
| beatified_date =
| beatified_place =
| beatified_by =
| canonized_date =
| canonized_place =
| canonized_by =
| attributes = Depicted as a young woman, sometimes holding a cross, book, or skull, and also a spray of lilies.<ref name="Stracke">{{cite web |last1=Stracke |first1=Richard |title= Rosalia of Palermo | url = http://www.christianiconography.info/rosePalermo.html  | website = Christian Iconography | date=20 October 2015}}</ref> Some images show her holding a chisel and hammer with which she carved her dedication (see main story). She is also seen wearing a crown of roses, attended by winged angels, and often with a view through a cave opening of Palermo Harbour.
| patronage={{cslist|Palermo|[[El Hatillo Municipality|El Hatillo]], Miranda|{{ill|v=ib|Zuata|es}}, [[Anzoátegui]]|[[El Playón, Venezuela|El Playón]], Portuguesa|[[Santa Rosalía de Camargo, Chihuahua]]|El Alto de Escuque, [[Trujillo (state)|Trujillo]]|Italian fishermen of [[Monterey, California]]|semi=true}}
| major_shrine =
| suppressed_date =
| issues =
}}

'''Rosalia''' ({{IPA|it|rozaˈliːa|lang}}; {{langx|scn|Rusulìa}}; 1130–1166), nicknamed {{lang|it|la Santuzza}} ("the Little Saint"), is the [[patron saint]] of [[Palermo]] in Italy, [[Camargo, Chihuahua|Camargo]] in Chihuahua, and three towns in [[Venezuela]]: [[El Hatillo Municipality|El Hatillo]],  {{ill|Zuata|es}}, and [[El Playón, Venezuela|El Playón]]. She is especially important internationally as a saint invoked in times of [[plague (disease)|plague]]. From 2020 onwards she has been invoked by some citizens of Palermo to protect the city from [[COVID-19]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/13/palermo-pins-hopes-patron-saint-rosalia-rid-italy-coronavirus|title=Palermo pins hopes on patron saint to rid Italy of coronavirus|first=Lorenzo|last=Tondo|newspaper=The Guardian |date=13 March 2020|via=www.theguardian.com}}</ref>

== Life ==
Rosalia was born of a [[Normans|Norman]] noble family that claimed descent from [[Charlemagne]]. Devoutly religious, she retired to live as a [[hermit]] in a cave on [[Mount Pellegrino]], where she died alone in 1166. Tradition says that she was led to the cave by two [[angels]]. On the cave wall she wrote "I, Rosalia, daughter of Sinibald, Lord of [[Monte delle Rose|[Monte] delle Rose]], and Quisquina, have taken the resolution to live in this cave for the love of my Lord, Jesus Christ."<ref name="catholic">{{Cite web |url=https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=157 |title=St. Rosalia |website=Catholic Online |access-date=12 July 2018}}</ref>

== 1624 plague ==
In 1624, a [[Plague (disease)|plague]] beset Palermo. During this hardship Rosalia reportedly appeared first to a sick woman, then to a hunter, to whom she indicated where her remains were to be found. She ordered him to bring her bones to Palermo and have them carried in procession through the city.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.italianfolkmagic.com/blog/2017/8/26/santa-rosalia|title=Santa Rosalia|date= 4 September 2017|access-date=14 July 2018|publisher=Italian Folk Magic}}</ref>

The hunter climbed the mountain and found her bones in the cave as described. He did what she had asked in the apparition. After her remains were carried around the city three times, the plague ceased. After this Rosalia was venerated as the patron saint of Palermo, and a sanctuary was built in the cave where her remains were discovered.<ref>For the great expansion of Rosalia's popular cult in Italy as a result of the 1624 plague, see [[Franco Mormando]], "Response to the Plague in Early Modern Italy: What the Primary Sources, Printed and Painted, Reveal" in ''Hope and Healing: Painting in Italy in a Time of Plague, 1500–1800'', ed. G. Bailey, P. Jones, F. Mormando, and T. Worcester, Worcester, Massachusetts: The Worcester Art Museum, 2005, pp. 32–34.</ref>

Her post-1624 iconography is dominated by the work of the Flemish painter [[Anthony van Dyck]], who was trapped in the city during the 1624–1625 quarantine, during which time he produced five paintings of Rosalia, now in [[Saint Rosalia (Anthony van Dyck)|Madrid]], [[Saint Rosalia Crowned by Angels (Houston)|Houston]], [[Saint Rosalia Crowned by Angels (London)|London]], [[Saint Rosalie Interceding for the Plague–Stricken of Palermo|New York]] and [[Saint Rosalia Crowned by Angels (Palermo)|Palermo itself]]. In 1629 he also produced ''[[Saint Rosalia Interceding for the City of Palermo]]'' and ''[[Coronation of Saint Rosalia]]'' to assist Jesuit efforts to spread devotion to her beyond Sicily.<ref>{{in lang|it}} Fiorenza Rangoni Gàl, ''Lo "Sposalizio mistico di S. Rosalia" nella chiesa del S. Salvatore a Vercana. Un problema risolto? Con alcune considerazioni sulla elaborazione dell’iconografia rosaliana di Anton van Dyck (2ª parte)'', in ''Quaderni della biblioteca del convento francescano di Dongo'', Dicembre 2013, pp. 54-63.</ref>

== Veneration ==
In [[Palermo]], the Festino di Santa Rosalia is held each year on 14 July, and continues into the next day.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.timesofsicily.com/festino-santa-rosalia-palermo/ | title=The "Festino" of Santa Rosalia in Palermo | work=Times of Sicily | first=Maria Lina | last=Bommarito | date=13 July 2014 | access-date=16 July 2017}}</ref> It is a major social and religious event in the city.
[[Image:Santa Rosalia.jpg|thumb|240px|left|A statue of St. Rosalia carried through the streets of [[Bivona]], [[Sicily]]]]
The feastday of St. Rosalia is on 4 September.<ref name="catholic"/>

The devotion to Santa Rosalia is widespread among the large and mainly Hindu [[Tamils|Tamil]] community of Sri Lankan origin settled in Palermo.<ref>{{Citation|last= Salerno| first  = Rossana| contribution = Sri Lanka to Monte Pellegrino: The Tamil People and Santa Rosalia | year = 2016| title  = ISA 3rd Forum of Sociology| publisher = International Sociological Association| contribution-url = https://www.isa-sociology.org/en/conferences/forum/vienna-2016/}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last= Colosi|first= Francesca|date = 16 April 2000|title= Santa Rosalia adottata dai tamil L'abbiamo ricoperta d'oro|url = https://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/2000/04/16/santa-rosalia-adottata-dai-tamil-abbiamo-ricoperta.html|language=italian|newspaper = la Repubblica|location= Palermo|access-date= 12 August 2021}}</ref>

On 4 September, a tradition of walking barefoot from Palermo up to the [[Santuario di Santa Rosalia, Palermo|Sanctuary of Santa Rosalia]] high up on Mount Pellegrino is observed in honor of Rosalia.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.timesofsicily.com/mount-pellegrino-climbing-honor-santa-rosalia/ |title=The Mount Pellegrino Climb in Honor of Santa Rosalia |last=Bommarito |first=Maria Lina |date=3 September 2014 |work=Times of Sicily |access-date=12 July 2018 |language=en-US }}</ref> In [[Italian-American]] communities in the United States, the July feast is generally dedicated to [[Our Lady of Mount Carmel]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.italianfolkmagic.com/blog/2017/8/26/santa-rosalia|title=Santa Rosalia|last=Vaudoise|first=Mallorie|date=4 September 2017|website=ItalianFolkMagic.com |access-date=22 May 2019}}</ref> while the September feast, beginning in August, brings large numbers of visitors annually to the [[Bensonhurst]] section of [[Brooklyn]] in New York City.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://brooklynreporter.com/story/bensonhurst-gears-42nd-annual-feast-santa-rosalia/ |title=Bensonhurst gears up for 42nd Annual Feast of Santa Rosalia |last=Sperling |first=Jonathan |date=9 August 2017 |work=[[Brooklyn Reporter]] |access-date=12 July 2018 |language=en-US }}</ref>

== In biology ==
[[File:Theodoor Boeyermans - The extasy of Saint Rosalie of Palermo.jpg|thumb|200px|''The ecstasy of Saint Rosalia of Palermo'' by [[Theodoor Boeyermans]]]]

Rosalia was proposed as the patron saint of [[Evolutionary biology|evolutionary studies]] in a paper by [[G. Evelyn Hutchinson|G.E. Hutchinson]].<ref>{{Cite journal| issn = 0003-0147| volume = 93| issue = 870| pages = 145–159| last = Hutchinson| first = G. E.| title = Homage to Santa Rosalia or Why Are There So Many Kinds of Animals?| journal = The American Naturalist| date = 1 May 1959| jstor = 2458768| doi=10.1086/282070| bibcode = 1959ANat...93..145H| s2cid = 26401739}}</ref> This was due to a visit he paid to a pool of water downstream from the cave where St. Rosalia's remains were found, where he developed ideas based on observations of [[Corixidae|water boatmen]].<ref>{{cite journal|jstor=2458768|title=Homage to Santa Rosalia or Why Are There So Many Kinds of Animals?|first=G.E.|last=Hutchinson|journal=The American Naturalist|volume=93|number=870|date=May–June 1959|pages=145–149|doi=10.1086/282070|bibcode=1959ANat...93..145H |s2cid=26401739}}</ref>

== In art ==
Saint Rosalia was an important subject in Italian Renaissance and Baroque painting, particularly in sacre conversazioni (group pictures of saints flanking the Virgin Mary) by artists such as [[Riccardo Quartararo]], [[Mario di Laurito]], [[Vincenzo La Barbara]], and possibly [[Antonello da Messina]].<ref>[[Gauvin Alexander Bailey]], "Anthony van Dyck, the Cult of Saint Rosalie, and the 1624 Plague in Palermo," in Gauvin Alexander Bailey et al., Hope and Healing: Painting in Italy in a Time of Plague (Worcester and Chicago, 2005): 118–36.</ref>

It was the Flemish master [[Anthony van Dyck]] (1599–1637), who was caught up in Palermo during the 1624 plague, who produced the most paintings of her. His depictions {{ndash}} a young woman with flowing blonde hair, wearing a Franciscan cowl and reaching down toward the city of Palermo in its peril {{ndash}} became the standard iconography of Rosalia from that time onward. Van Dyck's series of St. Rosalia paintings have been studied by [[Gauvin Alexander Bailey]] and [[Xavier F. Salomon]], both of whom curated or co-curated exhibitions devoted to the theme of Italian art and the plague.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/29/arts/design/desperately-painting-the-plague.html|title=Desperately Painting the Plague|first=Holland|last=Cotter|newspaper=The New York Times |date=29 July 2005}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&issn=00036536&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA284449813&sid=googleScholar&linkaccess=abs|title=Van Dyck in Sicily: while the plague held Palermo in its grip, Anthony van Dyck radically developed 12th-century iconography of Saint Rosalie through five paintings that imbued her with a sensual refinement. Van Dyck's Rosalie became one of Catholicism's most popular images of victory over pestilence, and represents a key period in the artist's development|first=Gauvin Alexander|last=Bailey|date=1 March 2012|journal=Apollo|volume=175|issue=596|pages=116–122|via=go.gale.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk/about/exhibitions-archive/exhibitions-archive-by-date/2012-van-dyck-in-sicily/|title=2012: Van Dyck in Sicily &#124; Dulwich Picture Gallery|website=www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk}}</ref> In March 2020, ''The New York Times'' published an article about the Metropolitan Museum of Art's painting of Saint Rosalia by Van Dyck in the context of [[COVID-19]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/26/arts/design/van-dyck-metropolitan-museum-virus.html|title=The Saint Who Stopped an Epidemic Is on Lockdown at the Met|first=Jason|last=Farago|newspaper=The New York Times |date=26 March 2020}}</ref>

Van Dyck also made designs for prints which were engraved by [[Philips van Mallery]] for the publication ''Vita S. Rosaliae Virginis Panormitanae Pestis Patronæ iconibus expressa'', which was published by [[Cornelis Galle the Elder]] in Antwerp in 1629. Only a few copies of the work, which recounts the life of Saint Rosalia, survive.<ref>[https://www.academia.edu/36250862/_Sir_Anthony_van_Dyck_in_the_Oxford_Dictionary_of_National_Biography_ed_H_C_G_Matthew_and_Brian_Harrison_Oxford_2004_XVII_pp_466_475 Jeremy Wood, 'Sir Anthony van Dyck’], in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, ed. H.C.G. Matthew and Brian Harrison, Oxford, 2004, XVII, pp. 466–475</ref>

== See also ==

{{Portal|Saints}}
* ''[[Coronation of Saint Rosalia]]''
* [[List of Catholic saints]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==

{{Commons category|Saint Rosalia}}
* {{CathEncy|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13184a.htm|title=St. Rosalia}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosalia, Santa}}
[[Category:1130 births]]
[[Category:1166 deaths]]
[[Category:Sicilian saints]]
[[Category:Italian hermits]]
[[Category:12th-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:Female saints of medieval Italy]]
[[Category:Angelic visionaries]]
[[Category:Religious leaders from Palermo]]
[[Category:Sicilian people of Norman descent]]
[[Category:12th-century Sicilian people]]
[[Category:Medieval Italian saints]]
[[Category:12th-century Norman women]]
[[Category:12th-century Normans]]